hrdliCka] skeletal REMAINS OF EARLY MAN 189 



ported from a more ancient stratum by running water, which 

 deposited the entire layer of gravel. The same remark may be 

 applied to the bones of the Ursus honseriensis, which Seguin, the 

 same who made the fortunate discovery of the human bones, found 

 mingled with the latter; as there were found only very few 

 fragments of the bones of the bear, I prefer to believe that they 

 were not in their primitive position, but that they were detached 

 from another more ancient stratum. ... I prefer to believe 

 that these bones [those of the fossil bear and the Typotherium] 

 came from another deposit and were transported by the cur- 

 rent which formed the gravel, and which mingled the bones 

 of animals of more ancient formation with those of man which 

 belonged to one more recent. My opinion is strengthened by 

 the presence of objects worked by the hand of man found by 

 Seguin in the same gravel. These objects are entirely similar to 

 analogous objects worked by the Indians existing before the Con- 

 quest. The bones and the debris of examples of ancient Indian manu- 

 facture have probably been washed out from an ancient Indian tomb 

 by modern currents of fresh water, and I do not see, after having 

 ascertained their complete resemblance to similar objects found in 

 the cemeteries and tombs from the period before the Conquest, 

 any cause for attributing to them any greater antiquity. " 



An entirely different view of the subject, however, is taken two 

 years later by Ameghino,^ who saw the bones in Paris. He has 

 nothing at all to say as to their anatomic features, nor was any 

 chemical examination made to determine their "fossility," but he 

 endeavors to sustain and to define their antiquity. 



He states that, owing to Seguin's death, the exact location of the 

 find was never ascertained; it was "on the borders of the Rio Car- 

 carana, a few leagues from its mouth." A manuscript catalogue of 

 the collection, at the Paris Museum, contained the following data: 



"Human bones collected near the Rio Carcarana, in the same soil 

 as the bones of various fossil animals (liorse, bear, etc.), which appear 

 contemporaneous with the latter; parts of the skeletons of four indi- 

 viduals; portions of upper and lower jaws, with teeth; various por- 

 tions of skulls; 32 isolated teeth; various parts of the vertebrae, 

 ribs, bones of the limbs (long bones and phalanges), etc. 



"Also a large number of fragments of bones still enveloped in 

 matrix (gangue) , analogous in character to that which contains bones 

 of various fossil animals. 



"Knives and other cutting instruments, manufactured in ancient 

 times by man, and discovered in the same deposits in which were 

 found the above-mentioned bones, as well as those of various other 

 animals." 



> See La antigiiedad, etc., ii, 1881, p. 514 et seq. 



